William henry howard



(No Model.)

W. H. HOWARD. CHECK OR OTHER NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENT. No. 599,841.

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UNITED STATES PATENT LQFFICE.

WILLIAM- HENRY HOWARD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TOLEONARD W. SWEET AND ELI P. ELLSWORTII, OF SAME PLACE.

CHECK OR OTHER NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 599,841, dated March 1,1898.

Application filed Tune 15, 1897.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM HENRY How- ARD, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at New York, in the county and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Checks or otherNegotiable Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates, broadly speaking, to a means or method ofpreventing the alteration of the values of issued checks, drafts, orother commercial paper and technically known as raising; and itconsists, essentially, of a series of cut-away portions lying Within thecheck proper, which portions being once removed cannot be replaced. Thecut-away portions are arranged. in sections and each portion or sectiondenominates or indicates a certain value which, by subtraction from theinstrument, limits its said Value, and through the special constructionwhich I employ such'value cannot be altered or raised without immediatedetection even by the most inexperienced.

In accordance with my invention the body of the check, draft, or otherinstrument will be of the usual form, and at one end of the same Iprovide the sections aforesaid, which sections are formed by linesradiating from a central point upon the left-hand end of theinstrument,'each section bearinga certain de- These spaces are nine innumber on each side -that is to say, above and below. In issuing thecheck or other instrument the body of the same will be filled out forthe proper amount in the usual manner, and then the check may bedetached on the tworadial lines of said diagram corresponding with anddenoting its face value. This detachment of the check on the lineindicated seversthe sectional diagram, leaving a part of the latter tobe carried by the check and a part remaining with the check-stubretained by the drawer. Thus both that portion of the diagram carried bythe check and that portion remaining Withthe stub will clearly andpermanently show the face value of the check as drawn. In carrying myinvention into effect these sections are placed Within the check-bodyproper, so that the diagram cannot be removed without mutilating the in-Serial No. 640,816. No model.)

strument to such an extent as to render it plainly void.

In the employment of my invention, also, I use a series of checks, whichidea I have shown, described, and claimed in another application filedJuly 13, 1897, Serial No. 644,466, which series enables me to cover anyamount from one dollar up.

The invention will be readily understood from the explanationhereinafter presented,

reference being had to the accompanying drawing, which shows a face Viewof a check bearing on its. left-hand end the lined and spaced diagramconstituting the novel feature of the invention. This check isintendedfor amounts less than one hundred dollars and belongs to what I termSeries A.

In the drawing, A designates the .body of the check or other order, andE the stub, which may be utilized for receiving the usual memoranda. Thebody-of the check A is of any suitable and well-known form and bearssuch inscriptions as may be desired. At the lefthand end of the checkand Within the area of the check proper is the. diagram, consisting ofthe two lettered parts F G, said parts corresponding with one anotherand being formed of a series of lines H I, all radiating from thecentral point J, which is the only connection between the parts F G. Thelines HIdivide the spaces K L of the said parts F G, and these spaceswill contain at their outer wider ends the numerals or other indicatingcharacters, as usual, which numerals or characters show the valuescorresponding with the amounts for which the checks or other orders maybe drawn or issued.

The part F shown in the figure contains at numeral 1 being one dollar,the numeral 2 two dollars, and so on; and the numerals 10 to 90,inclusive, in the part G of said diagram indicate tens of dollars, thenumeral indicating ten dollars, the numeral twenty dollars, the numeral3O thirty dollars, and so on. The check shown will be issued for allamounts less than one hundred dollars.

If the check shown should be drawn for, say, thirty-five dollars, thediagram D would be severed on the line intermediate the numerals 3O anda0 of the part 0 and on the line intermediate the numerals 5 and 6 ofthe part F, and thus the check would carry with it a part of the diagramD, which part would indicate on its lower edge the numeral 30,indicating thirty dollars, and on its upper edge the numeral 5,indicating five dollars. The check would thus on the diagram D carry themeans indicating the amount for which the check was originally drawn,and which means, it will be apparent, could never be raised.

If the check illustrated were to be issued for ninety dollars, the-checkand its diagram D would be detached 011 the first line to the right ofthe part F on said diagram and on the outer vertical line I of the partG on said diagram. Thus the part carried by the check would indicate onthe part G that it was issued for ninety dollars, all of the part Fhaving been removed and left with the stub E in the check-book.

It will be seen that the receiver of the check is not only protectedagainst the drawee, but the drawer is also protected, for the reasonthat the stub portion of the diagram indicates by its absent portion theamountfor which the check was drawn. It is apparent that an illstrumentonce issued according to this plan would be impossible to change, asthere are insurmountable difficulties in adding to the fabric of thepaper at the end. It will be seen also that the indieatin g-dia gramcontaining the sections aforesaid lie within the area of the checkproper and that therefore any attempt to tamper with the instrument byremoving the entire section feature would result in a permanentmutilation of theinstrument.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. The check or other order having a diagram lying within the area ofthe check proper, composed of the two corresponding parts formed oflines and intervening spaces radiating from a given point, said partseach being in the form of a triangle and so arranged with respect to oneanother that said diagram may, to properly denote the desired values, besevered on connected lines running through both said parts and at anangle to one another, substantially as set forth.

2. The check or other order having a diagram lying within the area ofthe check proper composed of the two corresponding parts formed of linesand intervening spaces hearing indicating characters denoting moneyvalues and radiating from a given point, said parts each being in theform of a triangle and so arranged with respect to one another that saiddiagram may, to denote the proper value of the check or order, besevered on connected lines running through both said parts and at anangle to one another, the indicating characters on one of said partsrepresenting values of one denomination and those on the other of saidparts denoting values of another denomination, substantially as setforth.

XVILLIAM HENRY HOWARD.

V itnesses:

M. V. Brnooon, J. GREEN.

